tattoos I'll never get

the invisibility cloak at the beach

2011-11-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

(Update 12/5) I wore this to the Paul Simon concert the other night. It seemed highly appropriate but as we were leaving I couldn't get over the drab darkness of everyone's winter outerwear. I was quite the peacock except for one lady wearing red wool, holiday festive.

Not finished but highly functional, my cloak was a cozy windbreak against the flying sand at the beach and a big hit at the Destin Arts Festival.

the invisibility cloak

2011-10-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

And for my NEXT trick!

As expected, wearing this in public is a guarantee of invisibility to all but the most interesting people - those who have some creative curiosity flowing in their veins. To the hoi polloi, I'm not there at all and plan on some daring daylight heists in the near future.

For those who might have noticed, I've been all too casual in documenting the progress of my project but the work has continued (I was boring myself writing about it).

In fact, I added that purple bit under my left armpit just this morning.

The layers of cloth have made this the ideal chill chase these fall Georgia mornings and now I have to scout out some kind of closures..frogs or buttons or something, to keep out the drafts.

And course...keep on keeping on.

catching up

2011-09-29T07:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a long while and a lot of stitching since I've posted here. The little elements are adding up and shirt is becoming heavy. And to think I was going to make two and use one to face the other - a reversible magic cloak - it would have been too heavy to wear.

I may line this one with something light to protect all the messy and vulnerable stitching that shows on the inside.

These elements are all over the place.
When it's closer to finished, I'm going to wear it in public and have my son film people's reaction. It's been out once and so far, people stare surreptitiously. No one has yet said anything. It's pretty outrageous...like a person with full body tattoos, some folks appear a little afraid.

Color Zapped

2011-09-06T07:08:00.000-07:00

I'm beginning to wonder if the 60s had a greater impact on me than I realized. The scrap basket I have been working from is flush with intense color but then, that is the nature of my entire stash.

I was looking for something to put inside that round golden mandala but it's painted and would be a pure pill to try and stitch through so I will leave the Sun as originally intended.

the grove of candy trees on the front flowers with french knots.

the shirt blooms

2011-09-01T05:37:00.000-07:00

A small forest has sprung up along the front placket of my shirt.

Paving around the circles is trixie. Why did I not leave those curved edges free so other things could be tucked under?
Haste and Helter Skelter are the two magpies perched on my shoulders as rushed to get this piece going, now I'm paying in pesky.

The white moth needs antenna and something significant will go into the purple/gold field just over his head just what I don't yet know.

I did away with the pocket that was just under the checkered bar. Hope I won't regret that in the future.

Every time I pick up this piece I think about the instigator - I have heard from Jude who is doing as well as any frontier woman can without electricity. They have firewood and water!

eye behind me

2011-08-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

detail from the center of the back. It's a bit bigger than life size - you won't miss it from ten feet away.

picking up the thread

2011-08-21T17:26:00.000-07:00

Now that "Rêver 3" is finished and the nights will be turning cool, I've taken up my original MCD project. I'm thinking that the magic may be invisibility because, once it's finished, no will remember who was wearing THAT SHIRT.

At first I had second thoughts about sewing these little art pieces onto a shirt that has seen better days but then, better days are what it's going to be all about.

swan feathers

2011-08-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

these will fly tomorrow.

the feathers

2011-08-13T04:48:00.000-07:00

My feathers landed at Judes. Thanks for taking these pictures - I forgot.

back to the stitch

2011-08-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

I've been away from stitching and the computer for what feels like forever.

It felt good to thread a needle and pick up the story again this afternoon.

Later, I'll catch up reading at the MCD with particular attention to all the marvelous stitch offerings posted there. My stitching comfort zone is pretty narrow. I still have the notion that if you can't successfully hang yourself with something I've stitched, I've done it wrong.

I have deliberately not referred too much to the previous pieces in this series and feel that these are more organic, spontaneous. The little village is on the edge of the jungle here.

the Ocean's Daughter languishes...for now.

changing horses in midstream..

2011-07-27T06:02:00.000-07:00

...but deciding I can ride them both at once, like in the circus.

I'm re-examining my choice of reworking two shirt for my MCD project - it's still going forward because the shirts are right at the "save me" condition now with the rag bin a close second and I really like putting one on as a chill chaser.

Back when it was so cold in the house (remember when?) I layered two of them and clearly recall the warmth and comfort of the two shirts working as one.

I think the problem has come from focusing too closely on the elements (those tattoos) and not being able to see the garment as a whole because of the problems inherent in making it reversible. I plan on having two distinct moods for this shirt. One side will be "the Ocean's Daughter" and the other "Pirate Queen Cuts Loose" or something like that. So you get the picture. We all have (at least) two sides. Cheap-ass Yankee that I am, I want my project to work overtime based on the mood I'm in at the moment.

In the meantime, I've been swept up in the

"Rêver" series and examining the difference in the way I feel when working on these two very different projects.

Each little element tells me a story while I'm working on it and yet they all relate to one another easily, without any fuss or fanfare.

Above - the cartoon balloon awaiting the angry input that will never come, a passing mood.

This one flipped back and forth between the Mountains of the Moon and a B52 Stealth bomber making a night pass amid spotlights.

See what I mean about duality?

O Best Beloved

2011-07-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

The phrase "O Best Beloved" made a big impression on me at some point in my life. It's from "The Elephant's Child" by Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories. There will be more stitching for this one but no more text! My eyes tire and fingers cramp just looking at this image.

text and the brain

2011-07-16T06:42:00.000-07:00

I wanted to add this post to the SEW forum but couldn't (despite Jude's instructions) figure out how so I'll just post it here.

The precision and intensity of focus needed for stitching nice looking, readable lettering does something to the brain (which is probably why I couldn't figure out how to post - great excuse).

Generally, it makes me uptight, for lack of a better way of describing it. I'm not even sketching the letters out ahead of time on this one for fear of making a slo-mo typo. I'm going to think long and hard about doing any more of it.

text

2011-07-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

The intent here was to just do a few sample words to see if it was as easy or as hard as it looked. Once I got started I had to finish the phrase from the Beatles song and illustrate it. We used to have a denim scrap picnic blanket with this embroidered all around the edge and I have no clue where it is today. Those letters were much larger. Working with four strands of 12 wt Sulky cotton was much harder.

The lesson for me is patience (those tight curves look much closer to perfect when you take 12 stitches instead of 7 or 8) and focus, literally and figuratively. The needle needs to come and go exactly in the center of the marked line, not a couple of threads this way or that. You can't do stitching letters justice with one eye on the ballgame and I am definitely in the market for one of these gizmos.

sketches

2011-07-12T05:34:00.000-07:00

There will be TEXT, something that I have mostly avoided. A while back Heather generously shared her methods for getting really crisp, readable embroidered text.

I will have a practice run before I screw this up.

Of course I altered the design a bit, never one to leave well enough alone. Having that star dead center bothered me some. It fell too much like a target.

The background for this was a commercial print that I pickup up recently at JoAnns. I overdyed it and I'm thinking of going back for a yard or two. It's in keeping with the chambray of the shirts, just the right weight and the grid helps me with positioning.

One of the things I love most about dyeing my own cloth is serendipity of the results.

7.11

2011-07-11T05:55:00.000-07:00

Here's "Glad Tidings from the Inner Eye" a meditation on self knowledge. Leafing through my sketchbook - the place where most of my ideas go to die - I've found a couple of inspirations for the next tattoo.

I have some close up experience with skin art - my brother is just about completely paved over with tattoos. I know that they are time consuming, painful and expensive and although each individual tattoo is a story unto itself, it's rare that someone has an overall plan ahead of time.

Like a diary, body art usually evolves over a lifetime and each separate element tells it's own story. I want to add these element to the shirts in a way that preserves each individual story.

The trick is going to be organizing these on the shirts in a cohesive manner but lack of cohesion may be part of the story.

Whose life rolled out just the way they planned it?

7.4.2011

2011-07-08T05:08:00.000-07:00

The moon was first on my list of symbols that I was collecting for this project.
the night sky is giving me pause - setting it into pale blue chambray will pose design challenges.

6.28.2011 the inner eye

2011-07-08T05:06:00.000-07:00

I actually have four of these Wrangler shirts. A little research has told me that there is a difference between chambray and denim but these shirts are so old and soft with wash, wear and time that it's hard to tell the difference. For my purpose, it matters nada. They are huge (mans 4X, if you can imagine) which will allow room for tailoring that will come down the line.

I've worn them for everything; smocks, bathrobes, winter jackets - whenever a third layer of clothing was called for, it was one of these shirts. The two best of the four are going to be the foundation for this project.

6.26

2011-07-08T05:01:00.002-07:00

ps. I've decided that blue floral embroidered fabric is not in keeping with the overall theme of this part of the project. At least it was only basted in place.

6.24.2011 - jumping the gun (as usual)

2011-07-08T05:01:00.000-07:00

6.24.2011

I've already started on what I think will be my project for Jude's class. At first I worried over what I was going to do and gradually came around to the idea of rescuing/transforming two beloved garments that have gotten too ratty to wear in public.

The starting points are two ordinary chambray shirts now worn pale and thin.
I want to glorify them..make magical armor, an invisibility cloak.

I don't always have the time or inclination to stitch by hand these days so it's good to have something to focus on when I do. Keeps me from wasting good cloth on nonsense projects that wind up UFOs in a drawer.

2011-07-07T21:00:00.001-07:00

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